RPD, others lend hand to veteran in need

On Friday, several Richmond Police Department officers joined other city employees and a local service organization for veterans to help an elderly man named Richard Roth on his trek across the country.

The man, an 82-year-old Korean War veteran by his own description, had hitchhiked from Iowa, ending up at the Rose City Shell station on Richmond's northwest side at about 6:30 a.m. Friday.

There he waited at the local Greyhound Bus stop — no ticket, no money.

A third-shift Richmond police officer spotted him and asked him where he was heading. The man told him his story. He had family in Maine but was going to Wheeling, W.Va., to a shelter for veterans.

Before the day and night were through, officers brought him to the police station at the Richmond Municipal Building, fed him and contacted Richard Hale of Aspire, a veteran's service organization.

Hale made arrangements for Roth to stay the night at Hope House. In the meantime, city employees took up a collection for the man and Richmond police dipped into a Fraternal Order of Police fund to buy the man a bus ticket to Wheeling and give him a little cash.

On Saturday morning, an officer picked him up at Hope House and took him to the bus station.

"It just seemed like the thing to do," said police Detective Tom Legear, who gave Roth a ride, stopping along the way to buy a puzzle book for the man for the bus ride home.

"He was an elderly gentleman, and he needed help," Legear said.

"They just took him under their wing," said Bill Henry, commander of the American Legion Post 65 in Richmond.

Henry was called and spoke to the man before he went to Hope House.

"The gentleman was very grateful," Henry said. "He was pretty amazed by what the police and people at the city were willing to do to help him.

"I just think it was a great thing that they did. I say, 'Bless their hearts,'" Henry said.